DVT Online Article on Mesquite Comp

The Rooftop Barbeque team pulls ribs from their cooker, fashioned from an old propane tank by Keith Henson, left. Other team members are Joe Angeloni, Kellen Wagoner and Andy Allen. the team, in its second competition , won People’s choice and took fourth place in the pork category of the main event. (David Bly, Desert Valley Times)

After our competition last weekend in Mesquite, Desert Valley Times posted an article summing up the competition, here’s a selection from the article about Rooftop.

Winning the People’s Choice award was the Rooftop Barbeque team from Lake Elsinore, Calif. This was the team’s second competition.

“We got third in tri-tip and ninth in beef ribs,” said team member Andy Allen of the first competition. “Ever since then we’ve been hooked.”

Their entries came out of a cooker made out of an old propane tank by Keith Henson, the newest member of the team. He’s an ironworker and a welder by trade.

“We worked on this thing diligently night after night,” said Henson. “It took a lot of grinding.”

The long black tank with the smokestack bears a strong resemblance to an old-fashioned steam locomotive, and Henson says he’s considering playing up the resemblance on the next cook he builds. He said he’ll put a rack on the end that will look like the cab to the locomotive.

While the pros are doing the competition cooking, Henson cooks for the cooks.

“I keep these guys fed while they do the cooking,” he said.

Besides winning People’s Choice, Rooftop Barbeque took fourth place in the pork category and 18th in desserts.